Jonathan Cohn talks to a Democratic lobbyist about Sen. Russ Feingold's election troubles:
What pisses me off is that he refuses to do any "negative" campaign ads. So he hasn't pointed out how extreme Johnson is -- especially for Wisconsin. You look at the other senators in trouble: Reid, Boxer, Bennett. They hammered their opponents and they are in better position than Feingold, although they are all at risk of losing as well. ... He is definitely one of the few senators, on either side of the aisle, who really sticks to his principles. That's a rarity indeed.
Count me as pissed off, too. There's nothing inimical to negative ads in the liberal demeanor, so long as those ads are factual. Even the infamous "Aqua Buddha" ad, which became a litmus test in a silly debate over whether Democrats should be tough or would face a backlash -- the position "be tough but not in a stupid way" doesn't get a lot of oxygen -- distracted from the fact that Jack Conway is running behind Rand Paul because of the Republican's consistent negative advertising.
If there was one thing Democrats seemed to have learned in 2006 and 2008, it was to hit back -- not necessarily to sling mud, though there's plenty of that, but not to confuse the Marquess of Queensbury Rules with liberal principles. If Feingold, or any other Democrat, is too good to criticize his opponent, he's too good for Congress -- and voters will be happy to let him find another line of work.
-- Tim Fernholz
